GTA – Page 84 – Michael Eats

Popular (and Delicious) Ice Cream at Ruru Baked

Published on July 4, 2021 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 659 Landsdowne Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.rurubaked.com/

Ruru Baked have been doing pop ups and selling pints since 2017, but they’ve only just opened their own place. Apparently their pints sell out in minutes, and clearly their new shop is just as popular because the line was quite substantial on a recent Saturday afternoon.

They specialize in custard-based ice cream, and serve from a rotating selection of flavours — when I went, some of the choices included banoffee pie, Milo, and miso butterscotch, but you can see what they’re currently serving on their website.

I went with Honeycomb cereal milk, which features a Honeycomb-infused flavour and swirls of a very rich caramel sauce. It tastes pretty much exactly how you want it to taste — the Honeycomb flavour is quite pronounced, and the caramel swirls have an intense, almost bitter flavour that does a great job of balancing out the sweetness of the ice cream.

As for the ice cream itself, it’s rich and creamy — it’s definitely above average.

Tasty Dipped Sandwiches at Hot Dip

Published on June 27, 2021 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1186 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/hotdiptoronto/

Hot Dip is a new sandwich shop on Queen Street that specializes in meaty sandwiches you can dip into things, and yeah, gimme that. That’s a genius idea.

They actually only have four sandwiches on the menu (at the moment, at least), which I appreciate. I always freeze like a deer in headlights when I see a menu with dozens of things on it — I know that everything on this huge menu cannot possibly be great, so just tell me what the good stuff is and what I can ignore.

Focusing on only a few things solves this problem entirely.

I ordered the Hot Dip (because you should always get the menu item that shares a name with the restaurant) which is a roast beef sandwich with horseradish mayo topped with crispy onions and served on a pretzel roll. The dip, in this case, is sharp cheddar.

It’s a very good sandwich. The thinly-sliced roast beef is super tender with a nice beefy flavour, and there’s a generous amount of it — the menu says eight ounces (i.e. half a pound, i.e. a lot of beef), and based on how substantial the sandwich is, I have no reason to believe they’re skimping on the meat.

The pretzel roll is just as good as the beef. Sometimes pretzel bread can be a bit on the dense side, but this struck a great balance between softness and heft, with a lightly crispy exterior.

As for the dip, weirdly enough it’s the weakest part of the sandwich. Despite being called “sharp cheddar” it has a thoroughly mild flavour — it basically has the taste and texture of watered-down Cheez Whiz. It mostly just adds moisture to the sandwich, but between the fresh bread and the tender meat, it doesn’t particularly need it.

My other big issue: it’s an incredibly heavy sandwich, and it really needs something acidic to cut through the overwhelming richness. I guess the horseradish mayo is supposed to fill this role? But it’s completely overwhelmed by all the beef; you can barely even tell that it’s there. It’s certainly not a deal-killer (it’s still very tasty), but it makes the sandwich feel a bit one-note rich, which is a shame.

Quick Bites: Chodang Soon Tofu, Khau Gully, La Paloma

Published on May 16, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Kimchee soon tofu bowl at Chodang Soon Tofu

I’ve written about this place a couple of times before, both for this blog and another one, which is why I’m not bothering with a full post for this particular meal. But I feel obligated to point out that Chodang Soon Tofu is still great; their namesake dish, a seriously delicious and hearty bowl of stew crammed with creamy tofu, is as vibrant and amazing as ever. If you’re even remotely in the area, don’t miss this place; it’s a gem.

Various dishes at Khau Gully

I tried a handful of dishes at Khau Gully, a delightful Indian restaurant just south of Yonge and Eglinton. Nothing particularly knocked my socks off, but everything was solid. In particular, the nimbu dhaniya murg featured tender chunks of chicken in a deliciously zippy sauce, and the awadhi subzi featured nicely cooked veggies in a very creamy, tasty sauce. The kulfi is also worth checking out. If you’ve never had kulfi before, it has a unique richness that makes it feel pretty distinct from traditional ice cream.

Zuppa Inglese at La Paloma

If I’m trying a gelato place for the first time, I’m probably going to pick a simple flavour like pistachio or stracciatella to gauge the quality of the ice cream. But if it’s a place I’m familiar with, all bets are off; I’m instantly drawn to odder flavours I might not have tried before. And I can’t say I’ve ever had a gelato flavour quite like the Zuppa Inglese at La Paloma: “English trifle with layers of cranberries, orange zest and our homemade sponge cake.” It absolutely nails the trifle flavour, with the fruity/cakey/custardy taste shining through. It’s also got that in-your-face booziness that you’ll often find in Italian desserts; this is a bit of an acquired taste (and it’s not my favourite thing in the world), but I don’t mind it. The gelato itself was a bit icy, but this was otherwise a top-notch flavour.

Solid Texas BBQ at Adamson Barbecue

Published on May 1, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 15195 Yonge Street, Aurora
Website: https://adamsonbarbecue.com/

Though restaurants serving Texas-style BBQ have become a dime a dozen in the GTA, Adamson was among the first in that trend, and if you ask pretty much anybody, they’re the best.

I tried it once a couple of years ago, and I’ll admit that I wasn’t convinced. I found the food to be tasty enough, but it was hampered by some fairly serious issues (most pressingly: a complete lack of smoky flavour, improperly sliced brisket, and mediocre pulled pork).

Well, I just tried their new Aurora location, and it was (mostly) a much, much better experience.

I will say that ordering take-out is probably not the best way to go (though it is, for obvious reasons, the only way to go right now). When you pre-order on their website, all the meats come tightly wrapped in butcher paper, and the whole thing is sealed in a foil take-out container. You also can’t specify a pick-up time other than before or after 4:00 PM. This means that the meat effectively continues to cook in the tray, and is a bit more dry than it should be by the time you eat it.

Even still, it was quite tasty. I tried basically everything on the menu: beef brisket, spare ribs, turkey breast, pulled pork, and a couple of sausages (bratwurst and jalapeno cheddar).

The brisket is their claim to fame, and yeah, it’s very good. It could have been more tender (see: the aforementioned take-out issue), but it was otherwise top-shelf brisket. It was quite smoky, it had a good amount of tender fat (the fat wasn’t quite as well rendered as you’d like, but that’s a minor complaint — it was mostly very creamy), and the bark was really tasty. Texas-style barbecue is traditionally seasoned with just salt and pepper, and while it tasted like there might have been a bit more going on here, it was quite good.

Everything else was (mostly) really tasty. The turkey was smoky and tender, the ribs had a great texture and more of that delightful smoke flavour (though they did taste a bit over-brined), and both sausages were top-notch, particularly the jalapeno cheddar.

The pulled pork was even worse than I remembered it, however. It was incredibly dry, it had zero smoky flavour, and it had that underlying gaminess that you only get from pork that’s been reheated one time too many. I’d be absolutely shocked if it was cooked the same day I ate it.

I also tried the baked beans and the coleslaw, and while neither was anything to get too excited about (the baked beans tasted more like some kind of bean stew than like traditional baked beans), but they were both tasty enough.

Amazing Lamb and Rice at Mandi Afandi

Published on April 23, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5120 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mandiafandi.ca/

I’ll admit that I was skeptical about Mandi Afandi. The spot they’re in formerly housed a Popeyes Chicken; since it closed down in 2013, that location has been home to a revolving door of failed restaurants. The last one — Mandilicious — also specialized in mandi. I didn’t have high hopes for what I assumed would be the latest in a string of shuttered eateries.

But then Suresh Doss highlighted the place in his column for CBC, and of course, I had to sit up and take notice. If Doss writes about a restaurant, you can be reasonably assured that the food will be tasty.

They have a handful of things on the menu, but of course, mandi — a traditional Yemini dish which features slow-cooked meat and rice — is right there in the name. They serve it with either lamb, chicken, or both.

I tried the lamb. Even with the Doss seal of approval, I was still fairly skeptical about the place, and I could not have been more wrong. It was shockingly delicious.

The lamb is delightfully tender and absolutely crammed with flavour from the spices they cook it with and the meat itself. I love lamb, and this is some of the best I’ve had in a long time.

You’d think that the rice would take a backseat to the meat, but surprisingly enough, it’s just as good. You can tell its been cooked with the meat because its infused with that flavour, and it’s fragrant with the same delightful spices that make the lamb so tasty.

The crispy fried onions only amp up the flavour, and add a nice textural counterpoint to the tender lamb and fluffy rice. You also get little containers of yogurt sauce and hot sauce on the side, and while neither are particularly necessary (it’s already so damn good on its own), they both compliment the dish quite well.